At
the beginning of the Palestinian Intifada an
Australian citizen wrote fair and
accurate comment. The comment was:

"Why
do Australia and the world feel it is all right
for soldiers to shoot and kill young Palestinian
boys and girls, but not East Timorese ones? The
question can be answered in two words: The
Holocaust. We of the Christian West bear too much
guilt for the 2000-year persecution of the Jews,
culminating in the Holocaust. We are afraid of
being accused of being 'anti-Sematic'. The
Zionists understand this. That is one of the
reasons we are continually reminded of the
Holocaust." (David Cunningham, Letters
to the Editor, The Age, 9 October 2000.)

Dear
all,

The
story of what happened to Palestinians in the
village of Deir Yassin 55 years ago is
critical to understanding the current crisis
taking place in the Middle East today.
Israeli historian Benny Morris has said
that the massacre at Deir Yassin was the
single most important event to precipitate
Palestinian flight in 1948.

The
focus of the Deir Yassin Memorial is to
remind the world of the Palestinian
experience of loss, dispossession, humiliation,
and oppression so that the histories of both
Arabs and Jews can be acknowledged, for without
acknowledgment there is little basis for peace.

Deir
Yassin Remembered is led by a Board of Jews and
non-Jews, men and women, who believe that the two
nationalities living within historical Palestine
(Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank) must recognize
each other's humanity and desire to live in peace.
Both must recognize the history of the victims of
the Nazi Holocaust and the history of the victims
of these victims, namely the Palestinians who
have been driven from their homes, brutalized and
dehumanised for over half a century.

On
May 2003, Israel's nuclear whistleblower
Mordechai Vanunu joined Deir Yassin Remembered
Board of Advisers. Mr Vanunu is currently
serving an 18-year term in prison for having
blown the whistle on Israel's nuclear weapons
program. But he is expected to be released
next April 22nd.

This
April DYR is running two campaigns. The
first involves our annual commemorations
organized this year on the theme From Deir
Yassin to the Wall. In the UK it will
culminate in a performance under the same name,
directed by Nadim Sawalha and performed on Sunday
April 4th at the Royal Geographical Society.

The
second campaign is being run in partnership with
Sabeel UK and is focused on the fact that this
year Deir Yassin Day falls on Good Friday.
The campaign will center on the Christian
community but we may take it beyond that.

In
the middle of April DYR founder, Professor Daniel
McGowan, UK director of DYR, Paul
Eisen, and Asem Judeh will be
travelling to Israel for the release of our Board
member, Mordechai Vanunu, after serving 18
years in Ashkelon Prison, 11 of which were in
solitary confinement.

Telling
the truth about Deir Yassin clarifies who is the
victim and who is the victimizer in the horrible
carnage taking place in Israel/Palestine every
day. Repeating the facts and figures about the
massacre at Deir Yassin -- arguably the most
important single event in 20th centaury
Palestinian history -- destroys the myths and the
propaganda on which Zionism has been built. These
endeavour to build a Jewish state in a multi-cultural
land has failed. Today half of the people in the
lands controlled by Isrĝael are not Jews; Israel
is not a Jewish state; it is a state in which the
privileged half of the population dominates the
discourse and the lives of those who are not
privileged.

Simon
Wiesenthal once coined the slogan, "Hope
lives when people remember." That is
true not only for those who remember the
Holocaust, but for those who remember Deir Yassin.
For Palestinians, "remembering" the
Holocaust will help them to understand the victim
hood of those who have oppressed them and
occupied them for so long. For Israelis and
other Zionists, "remembering" Deir
Yassin will help them to understand the
victimization of the Palestinians and why that
must not be allowed to continue if ever there is
to be peace between them.

PAX
is here, PAIX is available above, and PAIS is coming to
bring PEACE !

PALESTINE SUMMER ENCOUNTER

Holy
Land Trust (http://www.holylandtrust.org) invites
you to participate in the two-month Palestine
Summer Encounter, an Arabic-training and
volunteer program, starting on June 13th, 2004.
The purpose of the program is to create a
dialogue between members of the global community
and Palestinians. During these two months,
participants will learn Arabic with an intensive
and competitive language-training program,
partner with Palestinian non-profit organizations
as a volunteer and have the opportunity to
participate in 8 separate weekend excursions to
visit Hebron, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Haifa and
Jericho, the Dead Sea and other important sites
throughout the region.

Volunteer
assignments will depend on your skills and
interests but opportunities will likely be
available in the fields of computers and
technology, childcare, teaching English, serving
as a writing tutor, sports, health and
administration. Arabic classes, with teachers
from a local college (Bethlehem Bible College),
will be held four to five times a week in two
hour blocks and should help participants develop
a basic understanding of the language.
Participants are also encouraged to live with
Palestinian families during their stay, which
will give them additional opportunities to
practice their Arabic-speaking skills.

The
Palestine Summer Encounter is designed to be
highly affordable. Participants can register for
one or two months. Registration fees are $75; the
Arabic course (worth 2 units of college credit)
is $150; accommodations with Palestinian families
are $350 a month; guided tour sessions (all of
which are optional) are $25 per tour, per person. In all, we expect the Palestine Summer Encounter
to cost participants between $1,800 to $2,500 for
the entire two months.

Airfare
is not included in this price. However, we
encourage participants to make their travel
arrangements through the Travel & Encounter
program to take advantage of group flights. For
participants who want to seek separate living
accommodations, individual bed and breakfast
rooms are available for $12 per night and hotel
accommodations are available for approximately $35
per night for a single room.

However,
we strongly encourage participants to take
advantage of the opportunity to live with a
Palestinian family to help them benefit from the
added experience of sharing in the day-to-day
lives of ordinary Palestinians.